LAW E-Alert: Congress Returns From Break and More Changes

April 21, 2009—With the end of the spring district work period, Congress returns to finalize action on the FY2010 budget resolution. Congress is expected to split the funding differences between their respective bills, but the larger question is whether Congress will include budget-reconciliation language in regards to education, energy and health care. The budget reconciliation is not subject to a filibuster; therefore, it only requires a majority of the votes. If Congress includes budget-reconciliation language for education, this will pave the way for Congress to consider pushing the Pell Grant program into an entitlement and consolidate the federal-loans programs into a single federal-loan program. The budget resolution provides a rough outline of funding areas, though it does deal specifically with all the programmatic funding levels and does not require the President’s signature.

The House resolution provides $533 billion for non-defense discretionary funding, with $88.7 billion in discretionary funding for the Function 500 account for Education, Training, Employment, and Social Services. The Senate resolution provides $525 billion for non-defense discretionary funding, with $89.4 billion in discretionary funding for the Function 500 account for Education, Training, Employment, and Social Services. Both resolutions set a Pell Grant maximum level of $5,550 in FY2010 and include a deficit-neutral reserve fund to allow for Pell Grant increases in line with those proposed in President Obama's budget.

Congress is expected to finalize action in the next weeks. Meanwhile, the Administration is expected to release its full budget request for FY2010 the week of May 4th.

In other news, the Administration continues to appoint individuals for various positions in the federal government. For more information on these nominations, go to http://www.acct.org/advocacy/latest/